Updated

Hi guys
Just an update briefly from the field. Am literally sitting on the side of a hill getting a half a bar of very patch signal to send this.

All of our existing problems have been attended to and there are some very relieved farmers.
One of the guys was sleeping in the field amongst his cattle 5 nights a week. Still loosing more than 100 animals per year.

Answers to questions:

These lions are most often staked out on an existing kill or tracked from a kill to determine what has happened.
They tend to hit the same herd 3-4 times in a row, so we go where the problems are and help the farmers.
Many of the farmers are old and it is no longer safe for them to try and tackle the problem alone. One poor old guy was in the field with us busy switching between pairs of glasses and trying to tune his hearing aids.
Cant imagine sending him out against an apex predator.
98% of these cats are shot over the cattle they have killed as they will often stick around to defend and continue eating their kill.

Thanks to the hunters who are willing to take the risk of leaving their homes to help defend the lively hoods of others

Interesting offer Ian. E mail sent.

I would think that would be a great hunt! Good luck !!!

Anyone hunted with this outfit? Please post what you know. I am interested in this offer but have never met these people.

Tom

Tom,
Frank (Fjold) just got back from hunting with Ian. I believe there are a couple of hunt reports posted.

Think they will be around in August?

quote:

Originally posted by twoseventy:
Anyone hunted with this outfit? Please post what you know. I am interested in this offer but have never met these people.

Tom

Tom,

I posted my bushbuck hunt on the hunt reports forum. Ian's a good guy and he works hard when you're hunting. If Felicity (Ian's wife) hadn't packed biltong in the Bakke we would have missed a lot of meals. Ian doesn't like to leave the hunting for minor annoyances like meals.



Rastaman,

Talk to Ian but from our conversations in camp last month about it, these are problem control animals. They're killing cattle and the farmers have the permits to take them. Either they sell them to hunters or they poison them. If they're killing cattle then they'll be available.



I just discussed these lion hunts with a couple of friends in New Zealand yesterday. I'm just trying to figure out how much a divorce will cost me after 39 years of marriage.

Hi Gents
Sorry for the spotty communications. We are far outside of normal civilization. Roughly 140km from the nearest town.
I will try and write a more detailed reply later.

To clarify.

These are only problem animals and are only available as and when cats become a problem. That said these problems are most pronounced during the months of June -August.

By doing it this way we give them an incentive to hunt rather than poison.

There are no guarantees that you will kill a cat.
But the odds are in your favour due to the high incidence of problems along the southern boundary of the wilderness areas where cattle are farmed.

I will try and answer emails tonight
Kind regards
Ian

Ian, glad you are making progress with problem lions. I have a question however, you mention exportable lions while promoting a PAC hunt. Has the Namibian MET allowed anyone to export a PAC lion?

O1

Ian,

Just for my curiosity what hunting methods are used for these lions. Are you tracking them or sitting on fresh kills? Night or daytime? Hell of a cheap lion no matter how you are hunting them. Good luck.

Mark

Mark not sure how Ian does it but most of the problem lion hunting is staking out kills and then dealing with the lion when they come back to the kill. It can be challenging when a pride of lion are involved. In some cases we have collared the lion in question and tracked it to determine if it has become habituated on cattle. Most of the problem lion are not trophy quality males but 3 to 5 year olds causing havoc.

Unfortunately some PAC permits have been issued and trophy lion have been shot in there place. That is why normally the animals are not exportable. MET is trying to cut down on that practice.